Shanna 4/30/08 Exploitation & Berry

I do not understand how science, in all its glory, could not see that exploitation of the land for agriculture would one day kill the land and render it useless. As Dr. Redick spoke of in class, they (scientists) inject the land with replenishing chemicals so it can continue to be used and used. How could they not predict the destruction of the land? The answer (if there truly is one) can be found in Berry's The Unsettling of America. "The exploiter typically serves an institution or organization... the exploiter thinks in terms of numbers, quantities, hard facts..." (Berry, 8). The scientists serve institutions and are probably paid by those who want to exploit the land. Therefore, the scientists cannot afford to protect the land, they can only make it better and more efficient for the exploiters. In the long run though, we all lose. The exploiters will not be satisfied until they have every slice of the pie (or every plot of farmland) on which to wreak the havoc of machinery and chemicals. In The Likings and Loves of the Subhuman Lewis describes, "the area in which they operate should grow wider still and wider" (Lewis, 27). Contentment has never been a word to characterize the dominating and destructive nature of America. The exploiters can only think in terms of money and product.